The NFT Treasure Hunt

Michael Jordan
5 min readJul 21, 2021

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Secret riddles are contained in these NFTs and one needs to be a puzzle master to find the prize. Welcome to an online treasure hunt where the wise are rewarded. It is themed around Actuarial Science, one of the many subjects that contributed to the invention of the blockchain.

The NFTs

Each NFT contains the following:

  • An Image of an historical figure who contributed to Actuarial Science
  • A Pattern that is a piece to the meta puzzle
  • A Riddle whose answer might be a word of a wallet’s seed phrase

In total there will be 100 different NFTs but only 12 are needed to unlock the crypto wallet. Arrange the NFTs in the right order and search for a pattern to complete the puzzle.

The NFTs are sold here on OpenSea.

The Story

Actuarial Science is all about managing the chaos around finance. It relies on advanced mathematics and statistical techniques to build models that project possible futures. The history of this science includes some of the most iconic intellectuals and is told in the following YouTube videos.

Part 1: How the pioneers of Actuarial Science and the Founding Fathers of the United States influenced each other.

Part 2: How the scientists who measured the size of the solar system were also the first to calculate insurance premiums.

Part 3: How the great statisticians applied their techniques to estimating mortality. One going so far as to predict the day of their own death.

Part 4: How modern actuaries used traditional insurance models to help Elon Musk’s PayPal survive the first few waves of fraud.

More videos are on the way and some contain clues to the treasure hunt.

How to Play

There are a few strategies you can try out.

  • The Flipper: Buy various NFTs, write down the secret riddles, resell them.
  • The Scalper: Buy all the NFTs of one type, only you then know the secret.
  • The Collector: Buy and hodl a variety of different NFTs.

To encourage collecting, additional clues will be given to collectors who have a significant holding. Clues such as confirming whether the answer to a riddle is right or wrong. Or clues such as confirming the position of the NFT in the meta puzzle.

How to Buy

All the NFTs are in the same Treasure Hunt Collection. The first few were minted on Ethereum and their secret content can be unlocked on Rarible. The rest of the NFTs are minted on Polygon and their secret content can be unlocked on OpenSea. Currently there are no transaction fees on Polygon.

Meet the Puzzle Master

While some NFT projects have anonymous teams, I am happy to put my name to this treasure hunt. My name is Michael Jordan and I am a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa. Feel free to check me out on LinkedIn, message me on Twitter or check out my art NFTs on SuperRare. As an actuary, I’m bounded by ethics and the professional code and I aim to make this treasure hunt fair and to deposit at least 10 Eth into the prize wallet as sales of the NFTs occur. This is a long term project that I started in 2020 and aim to add to it as sales occur.

Need help

NFTs are a new technology and there are sometimes bugs when using Rarible and OpenSea. For instance, Rarible doesn’t recognise the Polygon NFTs created on OpenSea in the collection on the Rarible site. OpenSea does recognise the Rarible NFTs, but it doesn’t include the option to reveal the clue of these NFTs. To get around that, you can go to Rarible and unlock the secrets. If you purchase an NFT that doesn’t have any unlock-able secrets, then please reach out to me on Twitter and I’ll assist you.

At the end of the day, this is a fun way to learn about NFTs and should be seen as an educational experience and not as a financial investment.

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Michael Jordan

Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa. Specialised in Finance and Risk Management. Interested in Tech and Education.